1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to the field of safety management, and more specifically, to systems and methods to initiate various alarms and events by knocking over objects with built-in and/or embedded safety mechanisms.
2. Description of Related Art
We are constantly reminded of the need for personal and home safety in today's society. Over 7 million U.S. homeowners have home/building alarm systems which are meant to protect them from burglars, home invasion, and fire. These alarm systems trigger approximately 2.5 false alarms per year, and when a real alarm is triggered, rarely do alarm monitoring companies respond on time.
In addition, traditional building alarm systems do nothing for domestic violence, date rape, and other such assaults that occur when such alarms are turned off. According to the Colorado Coalition Against Sexual Assault, one in six American women have experienced or will experience an attempted or completed rape at some point during their life. In addition, there are over 1.5 million rapes per year in the United States alone, the majority occurring in the victims homes by someone known to the victim; someone who would never be detected by a traditional building alarm system.
Some traditional building alarm systems include “panic buttons”, however, this is rarely used as an option due to lack of knowledge by the user. Furthermore, a vast majority of professional women ages 25-45 do not own homes or alarm systems. In addition, traditional building alarm systems are not child-friendly, and are not designed for easy use by children.
Therefore, there is a need for a system and method that provides a simple, inconspicuous, and easy-to-use means to call for help in the event of a break-in or threatening situation, and which addresses the above-mentioned drawbacks of traditional building alarm systems.